Sunday, May 31, 2015

Betty MacDonald fan club letter collection got a very important donation regarding Ms. Dorita Hess.More very exciting info in next Betty MacDonald fan club newsletter.

Betty MacDonald and Mary Bard Jensen letter contest sounds like lots of fun.More info next week.Betty
MacDonald mentions in detail the original version of The Egg and I and
the differences with the final edition of her first book.

Greta and her Betty MacDonald fan club research team are working on an article for Betty MacDonald fan club newsletter June.

Don't miss our current Betty MacDonald fan club contest, please.

There are only a few hours left.

As a real Betty MacDonald fan club fan you can answer this question very easily.

In which book Betty MacDonald did describe her 'adopted' sister Madge?

In case you know the persons ( see great colour photo ) you can win a special Betty MacDonald fan club bonus item.

Send your answer please and if you are lucky enough you are our next Betty MacDonald fan club contest winner.

If you have any copies to offer let us know, please. We are going to have a Betty MacDonald fan club book cover contest in June.We are looking for the most beautiful Betty MacDonald book cover.More info soon!

It's
not a surprise at all that Darsie Beck's Auntie Betty MacDonald was
crazy about him.

You only have to read Darsie Beck's childhood memories
on Vashon Island, published on Betty MacDonald Fan Club Website.

What a
gifted personality!

An outstanding writer and artist!

After you' ve
read Darsie Beck's book you know what really important in life is.

Thank you so much, dear Darsie Beck!

Betty MacDonald got a very good
taste.

Yours,

Francesca

Artist and author Darsie Beck gave us the
permission to share a special gift with you, his childhood memories of
Vashon Island.It's beautifully written and a real treasure.

Childhood memories of Vashon Island 1943-53Copyright by Darsie Beck All rights reserved I've always been fascinated by the ferry boats that serve the island
and Olympic Peninsula communities of Puget Sound. I feel particularly
fortunate to have spent my first ten years and the last thirty years
here on Vashon Island and the in between years living in water front
homes near the Fauntleroy ferry dock and on the north end of Mercer
Island near the old ferry landing that once served that island
community.I have many fond memories of the ferry boats but one in particular
remains as clear to me today as when it occurred many years ago.At the time I was born, my parents lived with my grandparents in a
small house on Judkins street just east of 23rd, a few blocks south of
the Lake Washington floating bridge tunnels. This area, at the time, was
the northern most end of what was called, "Garlic Gulch", the original
Italian community in Seattle. With a new baby in the house things got
pretty crowded and before long my parents moved to Vashon Island where
they purchased their first home on the bluff above Dolphin Point on the
north end of the island. My mother's sister Betty MacDonald, her husband
Don and her two daughters Anne and Joan had moved to the island a
couple years before prompting my parents to follow their lead to this
island community.In the 1940's as now, we reached the island by ferry boat. I can't
tell you what that first ferry ride was like in the fall of 1943 or
which boat we rode on but I do know, the boats were privately operated
by Puget Sound Navigation (PSN), doing business as the Black Ball Line.Black Ball provided service between Vashon Island, Harper (on the
Olympic Peninsula) and Fauntleroy (West Seattle). During the 1940's the
wooden ferries Vashon and Kehloken and the steel electric Quinault saw
regular service on this run. The Quinault carried 100 cars compared to
the 45 car capacity of the smaller wooden ferries and was considered a
super ferry at the time. Most of the ferries flying the Black Ball
burgee were former San Francisco Bay boats purchased by PSN after the
completion of the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges.In early 1948, a proposed rate increase by PSN resulted in Vashon
Island suspending its service contract with Black Ball. Undeterred by
Vashon's action, Black Ball continued service between Harper and
Fauntleroy and to Vashon on an "as needed only" basis. With the help of
sympathetic state and local government agencies Vashon began developing
its own ferry service utilizing former Lake Washington and Tacoma boats
out of service since the opening of the Lake Washington floating bridge
and the Tacoma Narrows bridge. The Lincoln, Washington, City of Tacoma
and Crosline became the backbone of the new fleet.My first ferry boat recollection is from the summer of 1948. I was
five years old, my mother was pregnant with my sister, and we were
sitting in the family car on the Vashon ferry dock on a very foggy July
morning waiting for the boat to Fauntleroy to take my mother to the
hospital.The fog had created a stillness over the dock broken every few
minutes by the sounding of fog horns and the occasional car driving on
and off the wood planked ferry dock. Soon I heard the sound of an
approaching ferry, its engines reversing, its prop wash splashing
noisily between the pilings, the shrill screech of the ferries wood side
rails rubbing against creosote dolphins and apron wing walls as the
boat nudged itself into the slip. Chains clattered as deck hands removed
car barriers in preparation of off loading. I don't remember which of
the old ferries landed at the Vashon dock that foggy morning but I do
remember, once our car was loaded onto the boat, sitting on the car
deck, looking out the port into the fog when suddenly out of the mist a
large ferry appeared. Its propellers furiously reversing, deck hands and
passengers on both boats bracing for an impending collision. My eyes
grew big and my body grew tense as the huge ferry cleared the fog
revealing her black hull, white superstructure and the black ball
painted near the top of her red stack. It was the Quinault, Puget
Sound's first super ferry heading directly for our boat. The prop wash
of the huge ferry was buffeting the side of our boat, causing it to rock
back and forth in its slip. The Quinault was now within a car's length
of our boat when its forward motion finally came to rest and her
reversing action began to move the boat out of harms way. As stealthy as
she had appeared, she now disappeared back into the fog sending a
collective and audible sigh of relief through passengers and crew of
both boats.The Quinault, now considered a medium sized boat compared to today's
super ferries, still ply's the waters of Puget Sound and still holds a
place in my childhood memories as the most enormous boat ever seen by a
five year old.

Happy Birthday to you.We wish you the most wonderful birthday ever.Enjoy a great day in the circle of your family and friends.Thank you
again so much for sharing your outstanding artwork during your holiday.We enjoyed it very much.Best wishes and all our love from Angelika and Wolfgang, Astrid,
Linde, Lund family and many fans from all over the world.

Monday, May 11, 2015

this is a photo of Betty MacDonald's very witty sister Alison Bard Burnett.

You can order our new Betty MacDonald and Alison Bard Burnett CD and DVD!
DVD
and CD are different. You can see Betty MacDonald, her sister Alison
Bard Burnett and other family members and friends in front of the camera
for the first time!

We can offer you new wonderful Betty
MacDonald Fan Club Items and a new Betty MacDonald and Alison Bard
Burnett CD and DVD. More
exciting news about Betty MacDonald's filmed interview will come soon.

Anne
Elizabeth Campbell Bard was born March 26, 1907 in Boulder, Colorado,
the second child of Sydney and Darsie Bard. Betsy and her three sisters
and brother had an adventurous, somewhat unconventional childhood owing
to the strong and creative personalities of their parents and Darsie's
mother, "Gammy," and the many lessons in independence they survived
gracefully. ( see story Betty and Gammy written by Wolfgang Hampel
published by Betty MacDonald Fan Club and Interviews with
Betty MacDonald and her sister Alison Bard published on CD/DVD . The interviews on CD and DVD are different
ones )
When Betsy was 12 her father died of pneumonia, but the
family's strong relationships and optimism remained intact through this
sorrow and the ensuing financial trials.
Betsy (who later preferred
the nickname Betty) said that for the Bard children, there were really
only two household rules: "We were expected to be polite and to tell the
truth, no matter how appalling. "Apart from that, the Bard children did
as they pleased and went forth into the world with well-defined
personalities, acutely-developed senses of humor and adventure, and a
remarkable zest for life.
Betty married at 20 and went to live on a
chicken ranch in the Olympic mountains. Her experiences there are
chronicled in her first book, The Egg and I . ( see books The Kettles'
Million Dollar Egg, The Egg and Betty, The Tragic end of Robert Eugene
Heskett by Wolfgang Hampel published by BMC)
Life in such
isolation and hardship palled after 4 years and she returned with her
two small daughters to her Seattle family just as the Depression hit.
The amazing stories of their survival and triumph are related in Anybody
Can Do Anything. Betty and her family had a wonderful friend who
supported them during this very difficult time.
( see Betty and Mike
by Wolfgang Hampel published by BMC 2009 and Wolfgang Hampel's
interview with Alison Bard published by BMC )
Alison Bard tells some delightful treasure stories about this wonderful friend.

But
Betty's career as a businesswoman was cut short when she contracted
pulmonary tuberculosis and entered Firlands, an endowed sanitorium north
of Seattle. Lying flat on one's back for 8 1/2 months doesn't seem the
stuff of which humor can be made, but Betty did indeed spin gold out of
straw, in The Plague and I.
( see Betty MacDonald's illness written
by Wolfgang Hampel and published by BMC and comments of Betty
MacDonald's family and friends incl. Betty MacDonald's wonderful friend
Kimi )

After her recovery, Betty married Donald MacDonald and
they moved their family to Vashon Island, leading an idyllic and
interesting existence as portrayed in Onions in the Stew. While on
Vashon Betty also wrote her works for children: the Mrs. Piggle Wiggle
series and Nancy and Plum.

Betty and her husband bought a ranch
near Carmel, but illness forced her to move back to Seattle. She died of
cancer at the age of 50 on February 7, 1958. ( see Betty MacDonald's
illness by Wolfgang Hampel, published by BMC and Wolfgang Hampel's
interview with Alison Bard, published by BMC )

Why is
Betty's writing so beloved among so many people all over the world? The
first and most obvious reason is that it's hilarious - sharp, sometimes
irreverent. vivid and unexpected. Betty manages to find humor
everywhere: on the early morning streetcar, in a hospital ward, in a
home with two cranky adolescents, in job situations from farm work to
secretarial duties. To read Betty's writing is to laugh -- often out
loud, in public places, whether you want to or not. She has a terrific
eye for the absurd and can paint a striking and side-splitting word
picture in a few succinct strokes.
But Betty fans also love her
optimism, her strength, her intense love for her family, her times of
self-doubt, and the zest with which she approaches all of life and
relishes simple pleasures.( see many comments of Betty MacDonald Fans in
books, stories and interviews with Betty MacDonald's family and
friends published by BMC )

Betty's indomitable sister
Mary Bard, whom we encounter in all four books but meet most vividly in
Anybody Can Do Anything, also went on to write (her first book is
dedicated to Betty, "Who Egged Me On"). Mary's books, The Doctor Wears
Three Faces, Forty-Odd, Just Be Yourself, and the children's series Best
Friends, are also much beloved by Betty fans who find themselves
quickly becoming Mary fans as well. ( see Wolfgang Hampel's interviews
with Alison Bard. She tells the most interesting stories about Mary,
Betty and the Bard family. )
The CD and DVD interviews are different ones.

About Me

Betty MacDonald Fan Club, founded by Wolfgang Hampel, has members in 40 countries.
Wolfgang Hampel, author of Betty MacDonald biography interviewed Betty MacDonald's family and friends. His Interviews have been published on CD and DVD by Betty MacDonald Fan Club. If you are interested in the Betty MacDonald Biography or the Betty MacDonald Interviews send us a mail, please.
Several original Interviews with Betty MacDonald are available.
We are also organizing international Betty MacDonald Fan Club Events for example, Betty MacDonald Fan Club Eurovision Song Contest Meetings in Oslo and Düsseldorf, Royal Wedding Betty MacDonald Fan Club Event in Stockholm and Betty MacDonald Fan Club Fifa Worldcup Conferences in South Africa and Germany.
Betty MacDonald Fan Club Honour Members are Monica Sone, author of Nisei Daughter and described as Kimi in Betty MacDonald's The Plague and I, Betty MacDonald's nephew, artist and writer Darsie Beck, Betty MacDonald fans and beloved authors and artists Gwen Grant, Letizia Mancino, Perry Woodfin, Traci Tyne Hilton, Tatjana Geßler, music producer Bernd Kunze, musician Thomas Bödigheimer, translater Mary Holmes and Mr. Tigerli.